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| Monday, 08 November 2004 |
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Life and times in sport Neville - a person who pioneered a fundamental change by Premasara Epasinghe Neville D. Abeygunawardena is a person who pioneered for a fundamental change or reversal of conditions or ideas in the field of soccer in this country in the 1960s and 1970s for the betterment of the game. He was an instigator, a coach who revolutionised the game of soccer in Sri Lanka. His contribution to soccer was enormous. He was a man of many parts, a rebellion, who always stood for fair play, justice and for the rights of the footballers and their welfare. As a coach and soccer administrator, he was a staunch disciplinarian, who always called a spade a spade. Neville, hailed from an aristocratic family from Thalgaswela Walauwa, Eheliyagoda. He was an outstanding soccerite, who served as our national football coach for many years, and did yeoman service to the poor man's game. The golden era of Sri Lanka's soccer dawned under his stewardship as national coach. The players like that gentlemen Peter Ranasinghe, Mahinda Aluvihare, Hasim Deen were some of his brilliant products. He was born on 29th March 1930. He was an uncompromising disciplinarian. Accompanying the wrath amongst the administration saw him sacked thrice as the national coach, yet, brought him back by popular demand of players - a rare achievement indeed. Neville took V. A. Sugathadasa and Vincent Perera to courts and on each occasion, he came victorious. Football was his life. He was a versatile writer too. He authored two books on soccer, one of which is the history of Sri Lanka football. His presentation to FIFA in poetry was hailed. It was titled Viva FIFA. It is the only contribution in the archives. In the years gone by, soccer was a popular sport in Ratnapura. He studied at Seevali Maha Vidyalaya, adjoining Kalu Ganga. He played soccer for the Ratnapura side in the years 1945 and 1946. He was interested in cricket too. In 1947, he joined Ananda College, Colombo. His parents were keen to take him out from Seevali as he was a mischievous boy. He used to jump into Kalu ganga and swim. As he had 'two sullis' on his head, the parents, for his safety brought him to Colombo. They say that a person with 'two sullis', will die in water. One of his contemporaries at Seevali was internationally reputed Joe Abeywickrema. Further Soma Udabage was also a classmate of Neville. English literature and Latin were almost compulsory at Seevali during this period. After joining Ananda, he attended cricket practices with Molligoda, Hewavisanthi, Bonny Wijesinghe and Bobby Wickremasinghe. He was an all-round student - a member of the Sinhala and English debating teams at Ananda College. Although, Neville did not represent the country, he played for a leading club Harlequins. Due to an injury, he have to give up playing. Then, he took up to coaching. He was a vociferous reader on soccer. First, he coached Wesley College, where they became unofficial champions in soccer in 1952/54. He coached the national football team for 18 years. He was a controversial figure. He was removed as national coach thrice by V. A. Sugathadasa, Vincent Perera and Kitchilan. He went to courts and won. In 1962, for the first time in the history of soccer in Ceylon, the entire national team went on strike. They walked out of the national camp pool. Peter Ranasinghe was his captain. Football President V. A. Sugathadasa suspended, Neville and the team for five years. Neville took Sugathadasa to court. E. R. S. R. Coomaraswamy appeared for Neville and Neville Samarakoon, former Chief Justice appeared for Sugathadasa. Neville and the Sri Lankan players won the case and they were all re-instated. Not only in Sri Lanka, he was the national coach of the Republic of Maldives for six months. He took the Maldivian team to Larecenion Island in Madagascar. Maldivians lost to Cameroon 2-1. In 1968, pre-Olympics against Israel in Tel Aviv for 70 minutes the scores were nil. Sri Lanka goalie Hasim Deen was trampled. Lionel Pieris was replaced as the custodian. Last 10 minutes they scored two goals. Some of the players who played against Israel were Mahinda Aluvihare, S. P. (Sene) de Silva, Barjoos Sourjah, Hashim Deen, Edward Wickremasuriya, Jainulabdeen. Neville's greatest achievement as the national coach was the first international win over Pakistan. Then, Sri Lanka beat First Division Club of Switzerland - Swiss Red Star. Neville, firmly believed that there must be nurseries - to improve soccer standard in Sri Lanka. "You have to tap them young," he said. Outspoken Neville served at the Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills for 20 years in the personnel division. In 1978, he joined Mercantile Credit. During the latter stages of his life be became a victim of cancer and died a couple of years back. It was definitely an irreparable loss to Sri Lanka soccer. He was a honest, dedicated person, who helped many soccerites in Sri Lanka. His wife's Gladys, was a great inspiration to him. When he was sick, Gladys and children - Rohan, Roshan, Ronald and Romaine looked after him and treated him well. But, unfortunately they could not save this versatile sportsman cum coach. |
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